lucky escape

some time in spring 2006 I was approached by a TV production company looking for a boffin to take part in a new "science" show, largely modelled on MTV's Jackass. (no, really!) I did a few trial recordings, and then the TV people just stopped calling, so I just assumed the project had died a natural death.

Now I've found out, though, that they actually managed to make the program and sell it, and the second of 8 episodes was broadcast on Five yesterday. It really is at least as stupid as Jackass, and there is a boffin (they found someone looking more boffinesque than me, so that must be why they stopped calling!) mentioning some science in between the stunts, but on the whole I don't think they are making a worthwhile contribution to the public understanding of science.

Having said that, I admit that my ten-year-old enjoyed the show.

Anyhow, I figure I had a lucky escape ...

tardis

I am pleased to report that researchers actually followed up on my suggestion published in the paperback edition of Life on the Edge, 2001, and sent tardigrades to space. The TARDIS (Tardigrades in Space) experiment was part of the FOTON M-3 mission, that launched on 14 September 2007 and returned safely on the 26th, after 189 orbits. Right now the tardigrade passengers are awaiting detailed analyses that will surely reveal how well they are suited to withstand space conditions.
TARDIS home page

platypus news

final panic for my book manuscript, "The birds, the bees, and the platypuses." More details next week when I'm done.

Also, there is a German blog on the horizon, watch this space !

science writer crashes bank

When Northern Rock building society crashed a few weeks ago and was saved by emergency measures by the government, I noticed for a split second that its chairman had the same name as one of my science writers colleagues, Matt Ridley.
Only yesterday I found out from George Monbiot's column that the author of books like The Red Queen, and Genome, and the crash-landed Northern Rock chairman are actually the same person.

How deeply embarrassing for the community of science writers ... First of all, if you have the intelligence and education to deal with the wonders of the physical world, why would you want to deal with something as profane as running a bank? Secondly, if you have to run a bank, driving it into a ditch might give all of us a bad name. I mean who will leave a science writer in charge of a business ever again, after this 16 billion pound disaster?

And to all those who like to diss Wikipedia, George Monbiot's column appeared yesterday, and I checked Ridley's entry in Wikipedia today at 10am and found that it had already been updated based on yesterday's paper.

replacement, refinement, reduction

... are the three Rs relating to animal experiments. The UK has a national council for these three Rs, which has recently handed out a significant amount of funding to projects that promise to reduce animal suffering in one way or the other.

Read my report here.

vultures

Another depressing fact I learned this weekend about the depths our greed-fuelled society has sunk to:

"Vulture funds buy up sovereign debt issued by poor countries at a fraction of its face value, then sue the countries in courts - usually in London, New York or Paris - for their full face value plus interest."

And apparently it's very respectable London law firms that help these vultures to get their pound of flesh out of starving African nations.

source

more vulture news


I think that words like "evil" and "terrorist" are becoming entirely meaningless if they don't include the guys in smart suits that do these kinds of things and probably pick up honours from the queen for their services to finance.

diamond is a queen's best friend

The Queen is officially opening the Diamond Synchrotron today, which has generated a lot of publicity at least locally, on BBC radio Oxford etc.

I'm slightly uncomfortable with this though. Why do we need the queen to add a bit of glamour to an opening of which she will probably understand next to nothing ? I think this country has a sufficient number of Nobel laureates, one should have been able to find somebody who is famous _and_ knows something about science. and that way, the reflected sparkle of Diamond (the biggest science facility to be built here in 40 years or so) would have fallen back on science, as opposed to royalty.

And as for those people who only listened because the queen was mentioned, well by tomorrow they will have forgotten everything about Diamond and focus on whatever public library or motorway junction she opens tomorrow.

For those of us who are actually interested in the science of it, Diamond has been in routine operation since January, and I wrote a piece about it last year:
Gross M:
Current Biology 16, No 15 (8.8.), R565-66
Crystal clear

25 days

Shakira's oral fixation tour DVD is now available to pre-order at Amazon.com and at Amazon.co.uk (though only as import -- probably that's Sony UK being hopeless again!)

wellcome collection

went to the Birkbeck crystallography seminar on Monday and tried to visit the wellcome collection on my way back, but found the exhibitions are closed on Mondays ... Building with cafe, bookshop and art on display in the entrance hall looks nice though.

And the brand new head quarters are impressive too. They have neon art of five protein structures in their ground floor windows. I guess you can't promote structural biology to a broader audience than the random people walking down Euston Road.

coco

I bought 4 new cds yesterday but got stuck on the first one, which is playing on closed loop ... It's coco, by Colbie Caillat.

I'm kind of wondering why all these MySpace miracles never cross my path when I am actually in MySpace, only when they get out into the real world and get a proper recording contract and PR person. Apparently millions of people heard Colbie's songs in MySpace while she was yet unsigned, but I missed that !

Anyhow, I bought the CD on the strength of the single Bubbly and a couple of lines I had read about it somewhere. But essentially, what sold the cd to me were the lines:

cause every time i see your bubbly face
i get the tinglies in a silly place
It starts in my toes
makes me crinkle my nose

which just make me smile every time. But the rest of the album is great feel-good stuff as well ...

imaging autism

The Oxford Oxford Neurodevelopmental Magnetoencephalography Centre, which focuses on autism research is opened officially today, complete with royal visitor.

It is led by Professor Anthony Bailey, whose work and ambitions for the future of autism research I've described in a feature a couple of years ago.

only connect

In less than a month, London will finally be connected to the European high speed rail network. (Until now, the Eurostar had to crawl between the tunnel and Waterloo station!)

With the opening of the new Eurostar terminal at St. Pancras station and the proper high speed track, Paris will be only two hours and a quarter away from London. Including transfer and checkin times that's 4 1/2 hours from Oxford. Taking into account the transfer time from CDG airport into Paris city, the door to door travel time will be about the same for train and plane.

Will have to try that some time soon ...